The Use of Linear Polarization for Spectroscopic Studies of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds: The Case of Carbazole

Abstract

Absorption spectroscopy, performed with linearly polarized light on aligned samples, provides new information which is not available from ordinary spectroscopy. This information covers both the anisotropic optical properties of individual molecules in the sample, which are often useful for a determination of the molecular structure, and the molecular organization within the sample. Some samples are aligned from the start; if not, most molecules may be aligned simply and at low cost by using stretched polymers as anisotropic solvents. Such samples are useful in both infrared and UV-visible spectroscopy. The methods are illustrated by a study of the UV spectrum of carbazole.